About the U.S.-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure
The U.S.– Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure (USAfri) aims to create a platform for exchange between African and U.S. physicists with opportunities to have a major impact on research and education in Africa. Electronic Structure is a natural choice because it is an essential part of research with applications in many fields, and there is a network of capable researchers in Africa generated by sustained efforts over the past 10 years.
The U.S.-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure is supported by of the Innovation Fund of the American Physical Society.
Recent News
The 2022 Research visits funded by USAfrI were concluded:
| African Visitor | US Host | |
|---|---|---|
| B. Ibrahim Adetunji, Nigeria | Elif Ertekin, U Illinois | |
| Mesfin A. Afrassa, Ethiopia | Mark Pederson, UTexas El Paso | |
| Omololu Akin-Ojo, Nigeria | Renata Wentzcovich, Columbia U | |
| George O. Amolo, Kenya | Renata Wentzcovich, Columbia U | |
| Georgies A. Asres, Ethiopia | Jeffrey Neaton, Lawrence Berkeley Lab | |
| Michael O. Atambo, Kenya | Renata Wentzcovich, Columbia U | |
| Anne Justine Etindele, Cameroon | Andrés Cisneros, U North Texas | |
| Gebremedhn G. Hagoss, Ethiopia | David Prendergast, Lawrence Berkeley Lab | |
| Asnake S. Haile, Ethiopia | Tim Kowalczyk, Western Washington U | |
| Denis Magero, Kenya | Sandeep Sharma, U Colorado Boulder | |
| Yedilfana S. Mekonnen, Ethiopia | Deyu Lu, Brookhaven National Lab | |
| Winfred Mulwa, Kenya | Elif Ertekin, U Illinois | |
| Steve A. Ndengué, Cameroon | Neepa Maitra, Rutgers U | |
| Gugulethu C. Nkala, South Africa | John Rehr, U Washington | |
| Olugbenga M. Oshakuade, Nigeria | Alex Urban, Columbia U | |
| Isaac A. Popoola, Nigeria | Robert A. DiStasio, Cornell U | |
| Amisi Safari, DR Congo | Matt Horton, Lawrence Berkeley Lab | |
| Catherine P. Tairo, Tanzania | Maria Chan, Argonne National Lab |
Deadline for 2022 IUPAP Conference in Computational Physics is June 30, 2022 The USAfrI organization calls for electronic structure researchers in Africa to submit abstracts and present their research at the virtual IUPAP Conference in Computational Physics to be hosted by the University of Texas at Austin from August 1 to August 4, 2022 (https://ccp2022.oden.utexas.edu/). The conference covers a broad spectrum of topics in computational physics and is not limited to electronic structure. The conference is sponsored by the IUPAP C20 Commission, the Division of Computational Physics (DCOMP) of the American Physical Society (APS), University of Texas, Austin, and the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University. The abstract deadline is June 30, 2022. For more details, please email Renata Wentzcovitch (rmw2150@columbia.edu), James Chelikowsky (jrc@utexas.edu), or Feliciano Giustiuno (fgiustino@oden.utexas.edu).
Deadline for ASESMANET is May 15, 2022ASESMANET opens a call for scientists based in Africa that want to participate and present their research at the Psi-k conference (August 2022 in Lausanne, Switzerland) which usually takes place every 5 years. This call is supported by the Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire (CECAM), the Psi-k network, the National Centre for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials MARVEL funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and by the Office of External Activities (OEA) of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Women are particularly encouraged to apply. For more details email asesmanet@eaifr.org or join the USAfrI Slack Channel.
2021-2022 Advisory Board
| Name | Institution |
|---|---|
| Gboyega Adebayo | Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta |
| Stephon Alexander | Brown University & National Society of Black Physicists |
| George Amolo | Technical University of Kenya |
| Mark Casida | Universite Grenoble-Alpes |
| Maria Chan | Argonne National Laboratory |
| Samuel Chigome | Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation |
| Valentino Cooper | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| Lesley Cornish | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg |
| Michel Côté | Université de Montréal |
| Gebremedhn Gebreyesus | University of Ghana |
| James Gubernatis | Los Alamos National Lab |
| Matthew Horton | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/UC Berkeley |
| Steve Kevan | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Malik Maaza | iThemba Laboratories for Accelerator Based Sciences (LABS) |
| Neepa Maitra | Rutgers University at Newark |
| Mark Pederson | The University of Texas at El Paso |
| Warren Pickett | University of California, Davis |
| David Prendergast | Molecular Foundry,Berkeley Lab |
| Andrew Rappe | University of Pennsylvania |
| Richard Scalettar | University of California, Davis |
| Winston Wole Soboyejo | Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
| Hulda Swai | The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) |
| Hisham Widatallah | Sultan Qaboos University |
We are starting a Peer Program to help connect young researchers in Africa and the US. Our hope is that peers will meet virtually to discuss their research interests with people outside of their usual circle.
Peer meet-ups will run from March 15, 2021 to June 30, 2021, after the APS 2021 March Meeting mini-workshop and the planned workshop planned at EAIFR June 14-18, 2021. Peer meet-ups can be conducted over the phone or virtually. We also plan to host monthly meet-ups for all peers.